The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys - TRAFFIC***

Hidden Treasure/The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys/Light Up Or Leave Me Alone/Rock & Roll Stew/Many A Mile To Freedom/Rainmaker

Low Spark finds Traffic moving away from their progressive rock origins towards a more mellow jazz influenced sound. In the UK they were never able to regain the commercial success of their earlier albums. (US:7)

"None of the tracks on Low Spark are bad, but also none are very good. Many A Mile To Freedom is perhaps my favourite despite the seven minute duration, and Rock & Roll Stew is quite nice. The title track sounds OK all the way through, but that can't save it from being over lengthy, and the ethnically flavoured Rainmaker seems to go on for too long as well. The rest are decent.”

“Another heterogeneous grab-bag, Traffic are once again apparently unable to choose between folk-rock, proto-prog, psych and straight ahead rock. They respond to this indecision by dithering around between the various genres they'd flirted with rather than coming up with a really interesting fusion between them. The stylistic gear change between the folky opener Hidden Treasure and the jazzy, mellow title track could give listeners whiplash.”

“All of the songs are good and they're all pretty equal. Some nice solos and melodies but some of them feel like they're a bit too mellow at times. The album closer Rainmaker might be my pick as a highlight here.”

“This is some of the best and most competent music anyone was recording during the early seventies. If there's a weakness with Low Spark, it's that there isn't enough cohesion to it. Having different vocalists is one thing, but it just seems like the album would have been even stronger if they had made a more consistent musical statement, or put some catchier, briefer numbers on it.”

“Traffic lavished each song with bountiful amounts of jazzy music while maintaining a rock oriented sound to create the mellowest of songs. Winwood's voice is perfect for this album, especially during the eleven minute title track.”

“The title track is nearly twelve minutes of a blissful cool jazz/rock jam with just enough hipness to keep anyone listening to it from looking like a total coffee house beatnik.”

With a mixture of jazz, blues, soul, and pop influences, it's as potent as a Molotov cocktail without the nasty explosion, and there's no bitter aftertaste.”